Some people have old souls. What about dresses? Simone Rocha attacks that question with her Fall 2022 collection. It’s based on the Irish folktale “The Children of Lir,” in which four royal kids are enchanted, step-monster style, and turned into swans. The catch? They can live forever as birds…or return to child form and die. According to legend, the princesses held out for 900 years, trapping themselves in a liminal state between bird and human, ancient and adolescent.
If you’re saying, “Ohhhh, so that’s what these clothes do, too,” you’ve hit the spot. Rocha’s clothes have always run laps between innocence and experience, with floral embroidery skimming over bare breasts and strangles of ribbon at the throat, the waist, and the hem. Even her signature gowns — black and white poufs of supersized doll shapes — remain sheer enough to see the mortal women underneath them.
This time around, the effect was heightened by sex please details like harnessed biker jackets, sheer midriff panels, beaded thigh-highs, and blood red scrawls of yarn on the closing looks. There were also some here-for-the-Gram eye crystals by Thomas de Kluyver, often paired with bedazzled balaclavas. Then there was the casting — tons of model newbies, including Vivian Jeremiah (Nigeria), Mariana Arias (Mexico), and Amy Holt (USA), who certainly looked the part of immortal children yearning to break free. (In that way, I guess the collection was also a neat nod to Kirsten Dunst via Interview with a Vampire, another sinister tale spun with blood and duchess satin.)
So look, the whole thing was great—wholesale, a gorgeous spectacle; piece by piece, a clever and decadent way to cement one’s signature look. But I keep viewing Simone Rocha’s shows with equal parts wonder, and also wondering if they’re basically a Miu Miu audition. If they’re not? I mean, they really should be. After all, the essence of girlhood is a precious commodity, and it should be protected by female designers within the fashion space with knowing ferocity. Also sparkles.
Aren’t we lucky that Rocha uses both.